Maria Snyder - Sea Glass

She brightened at the idea and agreed to my day off. I hoped my trip to Hubal would net us information. Janco had made many forays into the Councilor’s Hall and Tama’s and Gressa’s apartments without finding a bit of evidence. Disheartening unless they kept their files in another location.

The next morning, I packed a few things. Eve arrived to relieve Nic and I told her about my plans.

“Let’s stop by the station and I’ll grab my stuff,” Eve said.

“No offense, Eve, but I need some time to myself. No one has attacked me and no one knows where I’m going. I’ll be safe.”

“What about on the roads? You could be followed.”

“I could, but I doubt they’d catch me. Quartz is a Sandseed horse. Besides, I don’t plan to stop at any travel shelters or camp on the road. There’s a half-dozen small towns within a day’s ride. I’ll stay at an inn and be back by tomorrow afternoon. Promise.”

Her frown didn’t ease. “What if they trail you to the inn and ambush you there?”

Damn. Since she didn’t know about Janco, she had a good point. I thought fast. “How about if you watch me and see if anyone follows me from Fulgor. If no one does, then you don’t have to worry.”

“And if someone does?” she asked.

“Then please catch up.”

She laughed. “Where are you going?”

“South to Chandra. I’ll walk Quartz the first hour. If you don’t show up, I’ll assume no one is trailing me.”

She agreed with reluctance. Quartz squirmed as I saddled her. She was as anxious as I to be on the road. She trotted at the slightest movement from me, and holding her to a walk was difficult. I headed south, trying to keep a lookout for a tail, but didn’t notice anyone. After an hour, I touched Quartz with my heels. She broke into a gallop in an instant.

After a few miles, I turned her east, then northeast. I realized how easy it had been to lie to Eve. She trusted me, yet I wondered if the ease had come from me. My stomach used to get upset when I needed to go undercover. New Opal lied without remorse, playing Gressa and Tama’s game like a professional. I’d had a number of setbacks, but I’d learned how to be deceitful and ruthless.

Unfortunately I failed to factor in cheating.

The trip to Hubal was uneventful. I enjoyed the quiet hush that only a hot-season day could produce. The heat pressed down like a blanket with an occasional cicada’s rattle piercing the stillness.

No clouds marred the sky and few travelers walked on the road. Quartz burned off her energy until her coat gleamed with sweat. She slowed and I let her choose a pace. I glanced behind us from time to time. Janco trailed me, but he remained hidden.

We arrived in Hubal in the early afternoon. The downtown area spanned three blocks and included a handful of businesses. Most of the residents worked in the nearby quarries, digging out the white marble used to construct Sitia’s government buildings. There was little activity on the unmarked streets, making it near impossible for me to find the Boulder Street address listed in Gressa’s files.

I looped around the factories, searching for stockpiles of sand, smokestacks and the smell of molten glass. None of the structures indicated a glass shop might be inside.

I stopped at the Dolomite Inn and woke a stable boy from his afternoon nap. He stretched and yawned, helping me with Quartz’s saddle and tack. I fed her grain. She drank water as I groomed her. After making sure she had a comfortable and clean stall, I rented a room.

I chatted with the innkeeper, an older man whose hair had migrated from the top of his head to sprout from his ears, eyebrows and nose.

“What’s the main industry here?” I asked him.

“Engravers and carvers, mostly,” he said. “The slabs of stone from the quarries are cut to size, polished and then customized, depending on the order. The big government projects always want some fancy columns or statues. Date stones are popular.” He touched the top of his head as if he still couldn’t believe his hair was gone. “We also carve tombstones. Name, date—the works!”

“Any glass or pottery factories?”

“Nope. We import that stuff. We’re focused on stone, granite and marble.”

“I didn’t see a market.”

“Of course not, it’s not market day. You’ll have to wait three more days.”

I didn’t have the luxury of three more days. “Do you know where Boulder Street is?”

His wheezy laugh turned into a hiccup. “Half the streets in town are named Boulder, the other half are Stone. Masons are not known for their imagination.” When he regained his breath he asked, “What are you looking for?”

I debated how much to tell him. He seemed harmless, but I’d made that mistake before. “A friend wrote me that he found a job at a new factory here. I thought I’d visit him.”

“New?” The innkeeper pulled at his bushy white sideburns as if trying to yank the information from his brain. “I don’t know about new, but someone bought the old Donner place on the eastern edge of town. It’s tucked into the woods hidden from view. We haven’t seen much activity besides a few deliveries. Figured they were renovating the inside and would be looking for workers when it was ready.”

He gave me directions to the Donner place. I decided to let Quartz nap and walked to the site. I almost missed the narrow lane leading back to the factory. Paralleling the path, I crept through the woods. Surrounded by trees, the two-story building looked ordinary at first glance. However, the stone construction and smokestack hinted a kiln might be in use. I circled the structure and spotted oversize doors. Sand and lime littered the ground as if spilled from wagons being wheeled through the doors.

“What took you so long?” Janco asked.

“I asked for directions.”

He scoffed. “Amateur.”

“Am not.”

“Oh, yeah? Then why did you let your soldier friend follow you?”

“Eve’s here?” I looked around. No wonder it was too easy. She’d played along to see where I was going.

“She’s at the inn. She tried to trail you from there, but a clumsy man with a slab of marble almost knocked her out.” Janco tsked. “By the time they untangled, you were gone.”

“Guess I am an amateur.”

“You’re more a rookie,” Janco said. “You need to learn how to spot a tail.”

Muffled voices reached us and we ducked down. I glimpsed movement through the windows of the building.

“Is that our target?” Janco asked in a whisper.

“I think so.”

“Tonight, then.”

He traveled through the woods with silent steps. I felt like a pregnant cow in comparison. Did I really want to spend hours and hours and hours learning how to be a professional sneak? No. I’d rather be lying on a beach with Kade, with all this furtive nonsense behind me and with the Warpers all safely locked away.

I crouched in the darkness. Crickets chirped and an owl hooted above me. No sounds emanated from the factory. No light glowed from the windows. When I was confident the place was empty, I snuck to a side entrance and picked the lock.

The door swung inward with a tiny squeak. Heat puffed in my face, smelling of white coal and molten glass. I lit a small lantern. The ground floor contained two standard kilns, annealing ovens, benches and tools. Glassware and vases with Gressa’s unique design lined a shelf. Why did she make them here and not at her factory in Fulgor?

In a back room I found a dozen of my messengers. The messengers still glowed with magic. Gressa had tricked me and sent my batch here instead of to the Citadel. Unexpected. Points for her.

I glanced out a window. Janco should be in position by now. After he had distracted Eve, he planned to wait outside just in case.